GM Says First-Half Worldwide Sales Rose 3.9%

July 16 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Co. said its global
first-half sales rose 3.9 percent to 4.85 million vehicles,
helped by gains in China and the U.S. as the automaker vies with
Toyota Motor Corp. and Volkswagen AG for the top spot.

Small cars such as the Sail in China and the Onix in Brazil
and the sell-down of the Silverado pickup that’s being replaced
by a redesigned version this year bolstered Chevrolet, the
Detroit-based company’s largest brand, according to a statement
today. The brand’s first-half sales increased 1.4 percent from a
year earlier to a record 2.5 million.

“Chevrolet is in the midst of the most aggressive new
product roll-out in the brand’s history,” Alan Batey, senior
vice president of the brand worldwide, said in the statement. He
was named to the post last month as GM Chief Executive Officer
Dan Akerson pursues a unified global vision for Chevrolet.

GM, the largest U.S. automaker, faces increased pressure to
remain No. 2 globally, ahead of Volkswagen and behind Toyota. GM
outsold Volkswagen in China during the first half, with 1.57
million deliveries to the German automaker’s 1.54 million, and
also boosted U.S. sales by 8 percent to 1.42 million.

Toyota was the leader in the January-through-March quarter,
with 2.43 million sales to GM’s 2.36 million and Wolfsburg,
Germany-based VW’s 2.27 million. Toyota, based in Toyota City,
Japan, hasn’t released sales results for the April-through-June
period yet. GM continued to lead VW, which on July 12 reported
first-half sales of 4.7 million, a 5.6 percent gain.

Toyota retook the annual global lead from GM in 2012 as the
Japanese automaker recovered from Asian natural disasters the
previous year.

GM fell 0.9 percent to $36.18 at the close in New York. The
shares have gained 25 percent this year, compared with an 18
percent increase for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.